Long before dry cleaners and delicate wash cycles, clothes had to be washed by hand. When the dirt and grim of labor disguised the fabric’s true colors, and made it, um, smelly, the clothes needed to be washed. The women who lived near a river or creek took their families’ laundry down to the water’s edge to pound out the dirt on the rocks. As they walked the worn path, and as they scrubbed their clothes, they would converse with one another, sharing the loads of their lives as they shared their loads of laundry. After a discussion with a …
